Containers such as dispensers for consumable materials in kitchens, toilets or similar are often required to be locked, in particular when located in more public places. It has become necessary to be able to lock the container to prevent the entire contents of the container from being removed by an unauthorized person, while at the same time allowing successive feeding out of for example contained paper, washing substances or the like. Re-filling of the container is then carried out by authorized persons having access to a key for unlocking the container or dispenser. However, for containers intended for smaller workplaces, for private use or similar it may be an inconvenience to keep track of the respective key and to unlock the container for refilling of the consumable material. As the task of refilling may be carried out by more than one person it is often not desirable to lock the container.
A natural placement of the key is inside the container, but placing the key somewhere in the container without a suitable release means would mean that the key becomes locked inside, in the case that the lock is of the self-locking type with spring-return to the locking position upon closing of the container, which in turn would lead to obvious difficulties.
WO 92/018733 describes one lock arrangement that addresses this problem. The locking ability is achieved by means of a lock, the main part of which is arranged in the cover and presents a locking cylinder with a slot, in which is arranged a key for locking and unlocking. The lock has a lock catch rotatable by means of the key, said lock catch being adjustable between a locking position and a free position. As part of the lock there is arranged a locking edge in the console which, in the shown example, is formed by an opening edge portion of an opening arranged in the console. According to this document, the container presents a holder for the key arranged internally, which holder is positioned so that, with the key placed in the holder, the lock is prevented from assuming the locking position. In this free position, the container is maintained closed by a snap-lock that may be opened by hand.
A problem with this solution is that the container is not properly locked when it is desired to allow the container to be opened by hand, without using a key. A further problem is that the above solution requires a separate snap-lock to be provided in order to maintain the container closed when the key is not used, adding to the complexity of the container as well as the cost for materials and assembly. The invention aims to provide an improved lockable container arrangement to solve the above problems and to facilitate handling of the container.